In the Dodds family, traditional board games have gone the way of the dinosaur, and been replaced with one of the hottest new trends: Poker. Once the activity of smoky, back-door clubs and casinos, family participation requires some easy-to-use new inventions, including the DB Dealer, which combines the game's dealer button -- an oversized, round chip marker that denotes which player bets last, the most advantageous betting position -- and the blind timer, an alarm that marks a minimum bet increase, called a blind.

Croatian soccer fans donate blood this week to get tickets for the national team's decisive World Cup qualifying game against Sweden, reports Reuters quoting Vecernji List daily. The game's organizers have reserved 300 tickets for the donors. But the number of volunteer blood donors in Zagreb is beyond their expectation. According to Reuters, students skip classes to queue in the hospital. Employees throng at the hospital during lunch breaks.

Zimbabwe's wildlife authority is stepping in to save the lives of more than 200 endangered black rhinos. Local conservationists say many species are at risk from rampant poaching by people struggling with hunger and rising poverty. Cross-border trophy hunters are also taking a toll.

A high school football player born without legs was back on the field Saturday after being removed by a referee in a game earlier this month. Colonel White High School senior Bobby Martin, who was born without legs, was sidelined Sept. 16 during a game for not being "fully equipped. "Martin played in his team's previous three games as a member of the punt return squad, using his arms to move down the field.

Northeastern State University in Tahlequah crowned 71-year-old graduate student Muriel Saunders as their Homecoming Queen last weekend. Saunders, from Muskogee, Oklahoma, was announced queen during halftime of the game between NSU and East Central. NSU beat East Central 16-to-14 as the crowd cheered.